Toto Wolff: Losing Friday would “take some value out of a race weekend”

Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff believes that the removal of practice sessions on a Friday during a race weekend would take away some of the “value” from it but is open to reducing the length of the sessions.

F1 chiefs had told teams of a potential idea to change what happens during a Friday at a Grand Prix weekend, having initially discussed about getting rid of Friday over all which looks to have been dismissed.

The Austrian says that removing the Friday would cause the weekend to lose its “spectacular and special” feeling after seeing it happen in the DTM series years ago.

Wolff said (quoted by Motorsport.com): "We did that in the DTM many years ago and it felt like the weekend was not spectacular and special anymore."If it's cut short to two days it takes some value out of a race weekend and Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motor racing, and it’s the world championship among engineers, drivers and the best teams.

"Therefore, that is a thing I wouldn't change - I would leave it on Friday."

The past few races have seen weather interrupted practice sessions on Fridays which have left teams not wanting to run due to the weather being forecast different for the rest of the weekend.

The Mercedes boss acknowledges that teams not being able to maximise the time for a car setup can lead to more entertainment on track but suggests shortening the length of the sessions.

"When you're not able to tune your car that well, then you have more gaps," he added.

"Whether that is the reason why some teams are falling away and others are doing better, I'm not entirely sure, but it could well be the case.

"What we can think about is cutting a session short on Friday or reducing the running time to 60 and 60 minutes rather than 90 minutes.

"These are things that are worth considering but I wouldn't go for a radical cancellation of the Friday."